Nepal Highest Mountains

Nepal is known as land of Himalayas world over. There are 1,310 peaks above 6000 meters of which 238 are already opened for climbing. Likewise, out of fourteen 8000 meters above peaks eight of them, including the highest peak in the world, Mount Everest lie in Nepal. Other seven are namely Kanchanjunga, Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu, Dhaulagiri, Manaslu and Annapurna.

Mt. Everest
Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world measuring 8,848 m(29,028 feet) in height. It was first climbed on May 29, 1953 by a New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay of Nepal. Mount Everest is also known by the Tibetan name Chomolangma (Goddess Mother of the Snows), and by the Nepali name Sagarmatha (Mother of the Universe).

Everest had been attempted many times before the important expeditions being that of 1922, 1923 and 1924. The body of George H. L. Mallory, who died in an earlier attempt (1924), was discovered on the mountain in 1999. More than 600 climbers from 20 countries have climbed the summit by various routes from both north and south. Climbers? ages have ranged from nineteen years to sixty. Climbing on Everest is very strictly regulated by both the Nepalese and Chinese governments. Climbing Everest and Treks to Everest Base Camp are becoming increasingly popular on both the north and south sides of the mountain. On the north side, a Buddhist monastery stands at the foot of the Rongbuk Glacier, beneath Everest?s spectacular north face. The monastery is one of two whose locations were selected specifically to allow religious contemplation of the great peak. The other is the Thyangboche Monastery in Nepal. The once active Rongbuk monastery in Tibet has required much rejuvenation from the destruction it experienced following China?s invasion of Tibet.

Kanchenjunga
Kanchenjunga (8,586) is the third highest mountain in the world. From 1838 until 1849, it was believed to be the highest. It is an enormous mountain mass, and many satellite peaks rise from its narrow icy ridges. It is located on the border of Nepal and Sikkim, just 46 miles northwest of Darjeeling. It is the most easterly of the great 8,000-meter peaks of the Himalaya.

Though not successfully climbed until 1955, it was first attempted in 1905, but four members of that international parties were killed in an avalanche. As inspiring as Kanchanjunga?s beauty is that at least the first three parties to ascend the mountain never attempted the final few feet to the summit out of voluntary respect for the Sikkimese, who consider the summit sacred. The successful British expedition of 1955 set the standard by stopping a few feet short of the actual summit, in honor of the local religion.

Lhotse
Lhotse (8,516) is the fourth highest mountain in the world. Its long east-west crest is located immediately south of Mount Everest and the summits of the two mountains are connected by the South Col, a vertical ridge that never drops below 8,000 meters. Lhotse is sometimes mistakenly identified as the south peak of the Everest massif. No serious attention was turned to climbing Lhotse until after Everest had finally been ascended. Lhotse was first climbed in 1956 by two Swiss, Fritz Luchsinger and Ernest Reiss.

In addition to the main summit, there are two subsidiary peaks, Lhotse Shar, which is immediately east of the main summit, and Nuptse, a high peak on the mountain?s west ridge.Makalu
Makalu (8,463) is the fifth highest mountain in the world. It is an isolated peak, located just 14 miles east of Mount Everest. Its size alone is impressive, but its structure, that of a perfect pyramid with four sharp ridges, makes this mountain all the more spectacular.

It has proved to be a challenging climb, as only five of its first sixteen attempts were successful. Previously, it had been admired and studied by several Everest parties, but like so many other giants in the Khumbu region, it was not attempted until the summit of Everest had been attained in 1954. A French group first climbed Makalu in the year 1955.

Chomo Lonzo (25,650 ft.) is a subsidiary peak of Makalu, rising just north of the higher summit, separated by a narrow saddle.

Cho Oyu
Cho Oyu (8,201) is the sixth highest mountain in the world, located a short distance to the west from Everest and Lhotse (the fourth highest) in the Khumbu region of Eastern Nepal along the Tibetan border. Its towering peak stands with Everest well above the surrounding mountains. It became a familiar landmark to climbers ascending Everest?s north face. Just west of Cho Oyu is the Nangpa La, a 19,000-foot glacier pass, and the main trade route between the Khumbu Sherpas and Tibet. Cho Oyu?s proximity to the Nangpa La has earned it the distinction among some climbers as being the easiest 8,000 meter peak. It was the third such peak climbed, and the first climbed in autumn by two Austrian.

Dhaulagiri
Dhaulagiri (8,167), whose name means White Mountain, is the seventh highest mountain in the world. It is an enormous Himalayan massif, located in north central Nepal. It is the highest mountain located entirely within Nepal. After its discovery by the western world in 1808, it replaced Ecuador?s Chimborazo (20,561 ft.) as the postulated highest mountain in the world. It maintained this standing for nearly 30 years, until the discovery of Kanchanjunga, which was then falsely believed to be the world?s highest mountain.

Dhaulagiri?s crest stretches for thirty miles, lending structure to an otherwise tangled topography of twisting ridges, glaciers, and ice falls. Along the main crest, several pyramid-shaped peaks rise. Four of these summits, numbered from east to west, rise above 25,000 feet.

In 1960, the Swiss/Austrian expedition who first reached the summit did so despite their airplane having crashed during the approach. This was the first Himalayan climb supported by an airplane, although the plane was subsequently abandoned on the mountain.

Manaslu
Manaslu (8,163) is the high peak of the Gorkha massif, and is the eighth highest mountain in the world. It is located about forty miles east of Annapurna, the tenth highest mountain. The mountain?s long ridges and valley glaciers offer feasible approaches from all directions, and it culminates in a peak that towers steeply above its surrounding landscape, and is a dominant feature when seen from afar. The name Manaslu is derived from the Sanskrit word Manasa and can be roughly translated as Mountain of the Spirit. An all-female Japanese expedition successfully ascended to the summit, thereby becoming the first women to climb an 8,000-meter peak.

Annapurna
Annapurna (8091) is an enormous Himalayan massif, the tenth highest mountain in the world. In 1950, it became the first 8,000 meter mountain to be successfully climbed. It is located east of a great gorge cut through the Himalaya by the Kali Gandaki river. The mountain has glaciers on its western and northwestern slopes, which drain into this gorge.
Annapurna is a Sanskrit name that can be translated as Goddess of the Harvests or more simply The Provider. Of Annapurna?s many highs peaks, five are labeled using some variation of the name Annapurna. Of these, the two highest (Annapurna I and II), stand like bookends at the western and eastern ends of the massif.